How do extreme weather events alter plant and insect community dynamics?
From organismal to ecological scales, an extended number of experiments and observational data have led us to a better understanding and predictability of the consequences of climate change. Nonetheless, most climate change research has centered the attention on differences on a change in weather averages. A less studied outcome of global warming is the more frequent and severe extreme climate events (ECE) like heat waves. For my PhD, I want to know what the consequences of the timing of heat waves on plant community assemblies, plant-insect interactions, ecosystem functioning, and plant physiology.
How does antrhopogenic noise shape bird and insect distributions?
Oil and gas development has rapidly increased across the world over the last several decades. Anthropogenic noise, an invisible pollutant that alters animal distribution and behavior, could be responsible for documented wildlife population declines near loud compressor stations in energy extraction fields. I experimentally played back compressor noise, creating a “phantom natural gas field” in a large-scale experiment, and tested the effects of noise on songbird and arthropod distributions.